African Church Speech

Richmond, February 6, 1865

The President said that if he were there to assist in celebrating
some great and decisive victory to our arms, or in hailing the
establishment of peace, he should have been most happy. But, in times
like those which are now upon us - when dangers confront us and our path
is beside the lee-shore and the breakers - to witness the manifestation
of such a spirit on the part of his countrymen as was there displayed,
was more than happiness - it was ecstatic joy! He had always
looked with pride upon his countrymen. He had rejoiced in their
patriotism and their courage. But he was prouder still when he
contemplated the fortitude which plucks flowers from reverses, and beats
high with hope in the presense of fresh calls upon its courage and
endurance.

The President said it was meet that the spirit which inspired
this meeting, should find its first utterance in Richmond. Here every
day were heard the cannons of the enemy. Innumerable hillocks in the
neighboring cemeteries, tell of the brave men from every State in the
Confederacy who have given their lives for their country. On one of the
hills of this city stands that sacred building, in which Patrick Henry
and his compatriots, pledged life for liberty. Here, too, was the
capitol of the Confederacy, and of that proud old State, which had been
truly termed "the mother of statesmen." If the spirit which has been
here indicated shall meet with a general response, and prove to be the
universal sentiment of the land, of which he did not doubt, then,
indeed, would he feel that we are on the very verge of success. --[Loud
cheers.] We should not again be insulted by such terms of peace as the
arrogance of the enemy has lately proposed; but ere many months had
elapsed, our successes would cause them to feel that when talking to us
they were talking to their masters. -- [Great applause.]

Does any one, he inquired, who has seen the Confederate
soldiers, believe they are willing to fail? If so, the suspicion is
most unjust! Go to our camps; go to our guarded lines; go where our
pickets hold their dangerous watch, and to the posts where our sentinels
tread their weary rounds, and you will find in none of those the place
for grumblings and complaints. The resolutions of our soldiers exclaim
with Patrick Henry, "Victory or death!" It is in the crowded mart,
where these are found whose pockets are stuffed with ill-gotten gains,
that you find the persons who grumble and complain. [Applause] The
progress of events had, however, brought a pressure even upon these
which would urge them to their duty. Their treasure is in danger, and
their only security for it is in performing their duty to their country.

The time for argument, said the President, is passed. The duty
that remains is to stand to our arms. He had just made an effort to
sercure peace, as he has done several times before. He had made it in
the cause of humanity and the country. At the very organization of our
Government, in Montgomery, his first care was to send Commissioners to
Washington. They were rejected. At a later period, he had requested
the second officer under the Government (Vice President Stephens,) to
seek a conference; the avowed object being to make arrangements for the
proper treatment and exchange of prisoners, but in addition to, and
behind that, it was the object to institute, if possible, negotiations
for peace. But our Vice President was refused an audience; not even
allowed to approach the throne. Since that time he had in various ways,
and on every proper occasion, proclaimed the desire of this country for
peace, and his own anxiety to to secure it, but until lately, no
opening had presented for an advance toward negotiation. This recent
opportunity he had embraced. He did it in the hope that some plan of
accommodation might be agreed upon. He would be less than man if he had
not felt an earnest desire, a yearning anxiety, to relieve the country
from the sufferings of the war, and to send our soldiers to their
homes. Anything honorable, and recognizing our independence as a basis,
would have been gladly acceded to. The person did not know him who
might suppose that, under any circumstance, he would consent to
reconstruct the late Union.

We had now learned the terms on which the enemy are willing to
accord peace. We are required to make an unconditional surrender. We
are not even allowed to go back to them as we came out, but are required
to take just what a conqueror may choose to give the conquered.

Man proposes, but God disposes. Relying on the courage and
devotion of his countrymen and reverently appealing to Heaven for its
aid to our cause, the President said his confidence was firm, that God
would abase the arrogance of our enemies, and crown our exertions with
triumph.

President Lincoln had, indeed, promised, that in the enforcement
of his laws for the confiscation of our property and the hanging of our
officers, his policy would be "liberal." [Laughter.] Beecher in a
late sermon at Washington had pictured a long line of rebels on their
way to the gallows; and President Lincoln's heart had, perhaps, softened
at the length of the procession. The leaders whom they propose to hang
are your servants, and they are not worthy to be your servants, the
President said unless they were willing to be sacrificed in your cause,
even unto death. [Applause.]

If the power of the enemy were ten times greater, and ours ten
times less than it is, there are still some rights of which they could
not dispossess us; the right to maintain our personal honor, and the
right to fill an honorable grave. -- [Loud applause.] If faithful to
the end, we shall stand proud among the proudest of the earth. Never
before have any people remained so closely united, in so long a war.
Never before have a country's best citizens composed its armies. Our
revolutionary forefathers were not united in a concord so perfect as
ours - though it is true they had less pressure upon them, the British
rulers being more humane than those of our present enemies, and their
generals belonging to a school that recognized the amenities of war.
History affords no parallel, the President continued, to the struggle
which our country is making - to the cheerfulness with which our people
have borne sacrifices, and the courage with which our armies have
marched to the harvest of death. It was this magnanimous spirit which
sustained him in the confidence that we should triumph in the end. We
have been chastened, and may be again. Let us profit by the lesson
reverses are designed to teach, that we are not to serve a friend merely
because he is such, or strike an enemy when we might serve the country.

The President here said that his failing strength admonished him
to close his remarks; but he yielded to loud requests to "go on." We
must, he said, lock shields together and go forward to save our country,
or sink together to honorable graves. [Loud applause.] He was not of
those who had expected no discord and no parties, but if our
disagreements result from passion we must exorcise it, and make the good
of our country our sole aim. If we will all do our duty, we shall reap
a brilliant reward. If the absentees, from our armies will return, and
if the local assistance be rendered which may be readily afforded, the
noble Army of Northern Virginia will read General Grant a yet severer
lesson than it taught him from the Rapidan to the James; while the
gallant Beauregard will cause Sherman's march across Georgia to be his
last.

We had, said the President, in the conduct of the enemy wherever
they had gained temporary rule over our people, the signs of what they
would in case of our subjugation. Thus warned we were forewarned. -
Happy in such a case would be those who had fallen in the fight - the
miserable would be the survivors.

In conclusion, the President said, he had gratifying proofs of
the spirit which animated the people whom he addressed. He had seen
even the old men upon duty, careless alike of the piercing blast and
whistling bullet; and your women have declared that they will fight the
battle if you should recoil! God bless your proud spirit and manly
fortitude! History will delight to dwell upon your praise!

The law, and the officers of the law, could not accomplish
everything: there was much that could be effected only by a sound public
opinion. Public opinion must make it a shame and disgrace for a man to
skulk from his duty, or to enquire not what he is able to do, but what the law will make
him do! Our women must take broomsticks and drive absentees and
stragglers to their duty. -- [Loud cheers.] We have one cause to
sustain, one country to defend. He who falls on the soil of Louisiana,
or sheds his blood on the soil of North Carolina or Virginia, is alike
an honored martyr. The inquiry among us must be, not what service we
can escape, but instead of that a generous rivalry among citizens and
States which shall do most, and give most to the cause. [Loud applause]